Stories and videos featuring unlikely
animal friendships have been going viral on the internet lately, prompting a
major network television news magazine to seek out William & Mary
anthropologist Barbara King to add some context to the phenomenon.

King, the Chancellor Professor of
Anthropology, will appear April 10 on a segment of CBS News Sunday Morning.She was interviewed by Steve Hartman, a
correspondent on the show, in a couple locations in New York City. King is the
author of a number of books, including Being
With Animals, an anthropological exploration of the evolution of humans’
relationship with animals.

“Steve and I talked about the
animal friendships and friendships across species in particular,” King said. They discussed Owen the
hippo, who pals around with Mzee, a tortoise. There also is an elephant who is
buddies with a dog and an orangutan named Suriya who enjoys the company of a
hound, Roscoe.

It was a whirlwind trip for King,
as the network flew her to New York and back on the same day. Taping, she said,
took about an hour and a half. “I'll appear on-air only briefly, but even so,
it was hugely fun,” she said,” “First we did interviews in the interior of the
Hotel Pierre, then outdoor walking-establishing shots filmed near Central
Park.”

Sunday Morning is hosted by
Charles Osgood. It airs at 9 a.m. Sundays on CBS.